Sri Lanka, Oct. 22 -- In his memoirs, Lee Kuan Yew described Ceylon as Britain's model Commonwealth country, and took note of the significant lead that then Ceylon had in terms of its resources, infrastructure and institutions when compared to the Singapore he had inherited, or to his immediate neighbours, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Where Singapore compensated for a lack of natural resources with a strategic expansion of its services sector, Indonesia and Malaysia aggressively leveraged natural resources to fuel their development.

Sri Lanka, blessed with the potential of all three, pursued neither strategy with any consistency. This country has repeatedly identified a commercial opportunity early, built a credible position in it, and then ...